It is known to hit Earth on November 30 and could cause northern lights in mid-latitudes. This is probably one of the most intense phenomena of this type of the season. This is what specialists warn. It would, in fact, be the strongest magnetic storm of the year.
Experts raised the alarm after a solar flare caused three separate coronal mass ejections on the Sun. In all three cases, they are directed towards Earth, creating a rare CME halo.
At high speed
What is a CME? It is a cloud of magnetic fields and charged particles from the Sun. It moves towards space at a speed of up to 3,000 kilometers per second. It can take several days to travel from the Sun to Earth. Once it gets there, the charged particles accelerate down the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field. The result is a geomagnetic storm. It often translates to a green and red oval around the poles of our planet. It even reaches mid-latitudes if it is strong enough.
«There was an intense flare right in front of us. Therefore, we expect a magnetic storm. Perhaps the strongest magnetic storm of the year,” said María Abúnina. She is a member of the Center for Space Weather Forecasting of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Affecting the Earth
Solar storms often disrupt radio and GPS signals. A CME is a powerful eruption of plasma and magnetic fields from the solar corona. Therefore, it can interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and ionosphere. And this causes geomagnetic storms and auroras.
Additionally, large-scale solar storms have the potential to cause internet disruptions and outages in several regions. Although serious, its effects usually last only a few hours. How strong will it be this time?
